Ambrym island, Vanuatu
Ambrym island, Vanuatu SHOT FROM ABOUT 200 METRES into a staggering 600m trek inside the fiery centre of Benbow – one of two active craters that populate the island – photographer Ulla Lohmann has captured the fierce glow of its constantly bubbling lava lake, and the cool, contrasting glow of her husband Basti Hofmann’s torch a few metres away. Lohmann first visited Ambrym in 1998, and in 2015, she and her team were the first people to travel to the crater’s tempestuous centre. She returns to the island several times a year, and many of the locals – some 7,000 islanders who reside along the volcano’s flanks – have become dear friends. “There is a man on the island, Zak-Zak, who speaks to the volcano, and it’s said he has the power to make the lava flow stop,” says Lohmann. “The people here may not have supernatural powers, but have a super-cool way of observing nature and predicting its path.” 44 DEPARTURES
Into the Fire Breaking new ground with her one-of-a-kind photographs of volcanoes, Ulla Lohmann is redefining adventure photography – with a humanist twist. by CLAUDIA WHITEUS Photographs by ULLA LOHMANN T he world would be a better place if everybody could see an active volcano,” says German photojournalist Ulla Lohmann. “They can teach us respect for nature.” She would know. At the age of 46, she has travelled to more than 100 volcanoes on six continents. “We cannot be the master of a volcano. We can admire, and be grateful for the life it gives, but we cannot control it. Standing next to this natural superpower is humbling.” Lohmann first became fascinated by volcanoes at the age of eight after witnessing their sheer destructive power on a trip to Pompeii. At 18, she financed a trip around the world with the winnings from a nationwide science competition, kicking off a jet-setting career that took her to – and sometimes inside – some of the most awe-inspiring volcanoes on Earth, all in an effort to find out “what’s really going on underneath the ground”. These days, she is joined on her adventures by her son, Manuk (named after an active volcano in Indonesia, the five-year-old has already witnessed eight eruptions in his young life) and husband Basti Hofmann, a skilled alpinist, pilot and filmmaker. She’s also found a different kind of family in the people living near the volcanoes she visits. In her just-released book, Vulkanmenschen (Volcano People), Lohmann – who speaks eight languages fluently and counting – explores the lives of those living in the shadow of volcanoes. “I don’t just go there to see an eruption; to me, that’s catastrophe tourism. I’m interested in how people interact with the volcano.” There’s a striking connection, she says, between these communities, whether in Sicily or on a remote island in Melanesia. “They live at the constant mercy of nature – the volcano both gives and takes – and so they share a respect and gratitude for life.” 45 DEPARTURES
